


Baby It's Cold Outside

by DollyPop



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Cold, Cold Weather, F/M, Huddling For Warmth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 10:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6903082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DollyPop/pseuds/DollyPop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, maybe, just maybe, taking him to her hometown in Sweden when temperatures hit a record low was a bad idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby It's Cold Outside

It was frigid. The temperatures had long since frosted over all the windows and Marie was wearing two pairs of gloves and still felt like the air sliced through every stitch of fabric she had the good sense to drape over herself. It was almost as bad as when she had to go to Alaska for BREW all those months ago, except this time she didn’t even have adrenaline to distract her.

When she offered for Stein to go to Sweden with her during Winter Break, she didn’t expect for the temperatures to drop to record levels. And though it was her homeland, she was only somewhat used to it, having gone back for holidays as a girl and oftentimes doing the same when she was stationed at Oceania, but it had been a while since she could go back to the snow and familiarity of the freeze.

Stein, on the other hand, looked less than adapt.

She could swear if she just listened in close enough, she could make out the symphonic noise of his teeth clattering, and though he put on the warmest coat he owned, one with fleece on the inside, he was still shivering in his boots.

When they had first arrived, her mother took one look at him and muttered that he wasn’t ready for the winter.

Well, her mother had said more than that, actually. That she had finally brought her boyfriend home, that he was so tall, that she was proud of Marie for getting together with the man she had liked since middle school.

Of course, she said it all in Swedish, just to keep Stein in the dark about the more, ahem, prying questions.

She thinks Stein caught on, because Marie’s face had been pinker than if she had windburn, and her mother had gone and kissed her on the cheek, patting the side of her face before she told them, in English this time, that she was going to make a good dinner for them to commemorate the occasion.

Stein was, evidently, too skinny in her mother’s book.

And maybe her mom was on to something, because Stein hadn’t stopped shivering since they stepped outside to go get groceries. Though it was a vacation, they were still visiting, and Marie would have simply found it strange to lounge around and do nothing. Even if her mother was wrong about them being a couple in that way, a good meal was always a plus, so Marie offered to go to the store.

Which meant that Stein had to go with her, or Marie would end up in Finland.

Despite her protests that it was a fast trip, barely four block, he had still bundled up and offered to go, an action that had her mother sighing in content.

Her baby girl finally found the man for her, and all that jazz.

Marie wonders just how much of the heat on her face could be explained through her being too heavy handed on the blush that morning.

Regardless, the fast trip, barely four blocks, ended up turning into 20 blocks because what neither of them accounted for was the fact that Stein had no idea where to go, and between the two of them, Marie was the one with some sort of familiarity.

Thus, they were lost. In negative 5 degree Fahrenheit, with a negative 11 degree wind chill.

Marie could tell that Stein was ready to curl up on the ground and tell her to go on without him as he froze into a block of ice, becoming one with the landscape. He certainly had the color scheme to match: white hair and pale skin and nothing but white clothes. The man didn’t know the meaning of a contrasting color even if it bit him on the nose, which was a delightful shade of cherry.

Back in Nevada, even during the summer, he was always in some sort of turtleneck due to his poor circulation, so, in hindsight, Marie assumes that taking him to the “bitter tundra” of home was probably being a tad sadistic.

He was rubbing off on her.

“M-M-Marie…w-w-where is th-the st-st-st-store,” he managed to chatter out, and Marie couldn’t help but wince over the fact that he was so cold.

“O-on Gotgaten street.”

If anyone was around, she was certain he would have grabbed a pedestrian and asked them for directions, but as it were, they felt like they were the only two people who had the poor sense to be outside. And they couldn’t just knock on one of the houses to ask for assistance.

That was why when his keen eyes spotted the tiniest bakery tucked at the corner of the street, he immediately gravitated toward it, grasping Marie around the elbow and all but stomping over.

Stein struggling to ask the poor countergirl for directions was almost too good to pass up, but eventually, Marie had to jump in and break into her native Swedish, the syllables and sounds pouring from her as naturally as if she had never left. And, though they got the directions, she couldn’t help but feel like Stein needed a moment to warm up.

So she ordered coffee, black, and dragged him over to one of the small tables so he could, hopefully, not catch pneumonia.

“Wh-wh-what are y-you doing?” he asked, still stuttering from the cold and sniffling, to which she had to try very hard not to giggle.

“Making sure you don’t get hypothermia,” she replied, already having heated up just from being in the shop. Her wavelength made her naturally warmer, a fact Stein was ever surly about since he was naturally freezing in all temperatures.

He looked like a cat that was rubbed in the wrong direction, and she bit her lip as she sat down, slinging her gloves off. The warm air almost stung her fingers and her face, but she welcomed it because it was better than the numbness that the cold air had brought. Stein stood around for a moment before he seemed to resign, sinking down into the chair across from her, finally pulling his hands out of his pockets.

When Marie looked at him, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. She had brought him to Sweden, despite the fact that he was used to Nevada. It was only for a week, but he didn’t seem to mind the vacation, and it was obvious that her mother adored him. Besides, she had promised good food, and ample opportunities for various specimens in Sweden, bribes which certainly sweetened the deal. It wasn’t as though she had pulled him against his will, but he was very much so uncomfortable.

After a moment, he brought one shaking hand to his gloves, slowly peeling them off and she couldn’t help but gasp when she spotted the state of his hands.

His fingers were as blue as Sid’s were. He had told her, before, that he had a condition that affected his circulation, making him feel the effects of the cold more strongly, but she never thought it would be that bad.

“Stein!” she called in surprise, her eye wide, and his head whipped up from where he was focusing on his hands. He looked at her almost like he was a child caught with something he shouldn’t have. In an instant, he opened his mouth to ask her what the matter was, but Marie was already barreling on.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were that cold? I would have given you my gloves!”

He only looked at her like she had a second head. Her protection over him wasn’t unusual, but the fact that she had the ridiculous notion in her head that her miniscule gloves could fit on his massive hands was both hilarious and somewhat baffling. He gave a pointed look to her slender fingers, her slight bone structure making them seem even smaller than usual, and then he glanced at his own palms, which were large enough that they could cover her entire face.

“Marie-“ he began, ready to tell her the loopholes of her general plan, but she only leaned forward, having abandoned her gloves on the table to grasp up his hands in her own.

He jolted for a moment, making a movement as though he were going to yank away, but then the heat of her palms must have hit him and he almost melted to her grasp, flexing his fingers in her hold. She scowled at how freezing he was, and she could feel the harsh tremors that passed through his body, alerting her of just how bad it must have been.

She scrunched her mouth to the side, focusing her wavelength so the warm, golden glow would travel down her arms so she could transfer it to his skin, but there was only so much she could so if his hands were twice the size of her own.

Not really thinking of anything other than her Meister’s well-being, she adjusted her hold, leaning forward even more and making the motion to bring both his palms to her neck. This time, he really jolted, opening his mouth to refute her or tell her just how freezing his fingers were and that she didn’t have to, but she wormed their twined hands beneath her scarf and high collar so that he could warm him with her skin.

She gasped at how icy the touch was, and he shivered, though he knew it wasn’t from the cold, this time. Marie was warming him up from the tips of his fingers down to the very bone, and his spine hummed with a shock of pleasure from having her wavelength filtered so closely

“Marie,” he murmured, and she hummed in contentment, getting over the general cold and feeling his trembles calming as she rubbed her thumbs over his knuckles. She was instantly reminded of the phrase her mother used to say, "cold hands, warm heart", and she cannot help but feel as though it applied to her partner.

And, when she looked up at his face, his cheeks were bright pink with a dusting of the same color over the bridge of his nose. There was something close to awe in his eyes as he took in the sight of Marie holding his hands beneath her shirt collar.

She smiled warmly, not noticing the barista set down the singular cup of coffee that they had ordered.

Maybe she wasn’t the only one who was just a tad heavy handed with the blush that morning. 


End file.
